Roles and Responsibilities
- Participate in Core Supplier Management teams for purchase orders, together with the Sourcing/Fulfilment and Engineering representatives.
- Work with procurement teams to define / agree / communicate to all stakeholders a roadmap for supplier development activities, identifying the supplier quality tasks to ensure the right supply chain performance to meet business objectives.
- Track and drive progress against roadmap commitments, with regular reports to stakeholders and management.
- Execute activities to drive safety, quality and compliance excellence and support delivery and cost performance, within the supply base for the assigned product scope.
Supplier on-boarding and qualification:
- Support Supplier selection process, in cooperation with Sourcing and Engineering teams, performing technical assessment, and evaluating supplier capacity and capability (manufacturing, design, EHS, …),
- Assess suppliers QMS and manufacturing process compliance through holistic process audits,
- Record action plans and manage supplier approvals in the supplier database,
- Lead and execute first piece qualification programs with suppliers in cooperation with other functions and subject matter experts including but not limited to: during fabrication audits, special processes audit, design reviews, functional tests (if applicable) and final product release.
- Record actions plans and approve qualification requests in the supplier database.
Supplier assessment and development:
- Attend pre-award meetings with suppliers and Sourcing/Engineering,
- Contribute to the Supplier Performance Rating process (Score Cards),
- Review and update suppliers’ qualification status based on their performance assessment,
- Initiate and manage supplier development actions and Q improvement plans.
Purchase Order Kick-off Meetings, Supplier Requirements and Design Reviews:
- Ensure readiness for kick-off meeting with dedicated checklist,
- Confirm supplier surveillance strategy with Client Engineering,
- Organize the kick-off meetings with suppliers and relevant client representatives,
- Support Engineering in execution of Supplier Requirement Reviews and Supplier Design Reviews
- Where applicable, review supplier quality documentation (Inspection and Test Plans, special process and NDT procedures, …).
Execution of surveillance inspections:
- Set up inspection strategy (standard quality inspection plans and additional inspections, as applicable),
- Schedule quality surveillance and witness inspections at suppliers,
- Perform surveillance and witness inspections,
- Ensure product compliance with contract requirements and applicable regulations,
- Timely review, validate and distribute inspection reports.
Release material for shipment:
- Ensure all deviations are closed,
- Where applicable, review End of Manufacturing Reports (EoMR),
- Authorize shipment once all quality requirements are met.
Manage technical deviations:
- Continuously follow up the punch items and nonconformities resulting from the quality surveillance inspections up to their closure,
- Lead RCAs and RCIs with suppliers as per business-defined impact thresholds, support supplier to create the corrective and preventative actions, monitor their implementation and perform the effectiveness check,
- Analyse customer escapes and Cost of Poor Quality (CoPQ) and support vendor recovery process,
- Initiate and execute Supplier Quality Improvement Programs with top offenders, and, preventatively, with other suppliers of critical MLIs.
Manage holistic process audits and other supplier development activities:
- Organize holistic process audits,
- Monitor the closure of corrective actions based on audit findings,
- Record the corresponding reports in the supplier database,
- Facilitate supplier Technical Advisor site installation and/or commissioning support and the corresponding lessons-learned dissemination,
- Support suppliers to executes DFMEA (where applicable) and PFMEAs.
Other tasks:
- Drive a strong EHS culture throughout the supply base,
- Support cost-out opportunities identified by the suppliers,
- Propose improvement projects to increase the effectiveness of the processes,
- Stop work if quality or safety is at risk and define/assess the conditions to release work.
Required Professional Characteristics and Personal Skills
- Minimum bachelor’s degree in Electrical or Electronic Engineering, or equivalent technical field from an accredited university or college.
- Previous working experience in quality, operations/supply chain or project management, preferably in electronic industry, with proficiency to understand technical drawings, specifications, and standards.
- Working knowledge of manufacturing processes involved in the production of the assigned equipment (e.g. electronic parts, PCBAs, PCBs).
- Excellent written and verbal English language skills, allowing effective communication across all organizational levels, departments, and functions.
- Strong safety, compliance, quality, and lean mindset, with proven use of the industrial quality toolkit for risk assessment, root cause analysis, problem solving, and manufacturing process controls.
- Aptitude to create and deliver reports for review by key stakeholders.
- Capacity to organize working time in global team setting and willingness to adjust it based on meetings with stakeholders in different time zones.
- Capacity to read and interpret engineering drawings and standards.
- Decision maker with excellent problem-solving skills.
- Flexibility and willingness to travel to suppliers (up to 70%).
- Humble, open, collaborative, and continuously learning.
